Articulated around In situ, first performed in 2013 at the Donaueschinger Musiktage by the Ensemble Modern and the SWR Sinfonieorchester conducted by François-Xavier Roth, the Köln Trilogy will begin with Ring, a 36 minute-long piece, and end with X, a composition for a large orchestra joined by a choir and a few singers and actors, as well as electronic music performed in real time. The three pieces of this cycle will first be performed respectively in 2016, 2017, and 2018 by the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln led by its own conductor, François-Xavier Roth, in Cologne’s Symphony Hall.

The spatial arrangement for the first piece, Ring, will be the following: as a symbol of past history, a small Mozart-type orchestra will take up the stage proper, while different groupings will be distributed in several areas of the hall. Two groups of 9 performers on the right and left sides (amounting to 6 trios) will be placed in loggias in elevation behind and overhanging the orchestra, while 2 other groups of around 10 musicians will take up the side gondolas usually reserved for students (on the right) or late-comers (on the left), and 4 groups will be placed in the back of the hall in a single elevated row. Each of those groups will be heterogeneous, that is, made up of instruments from different families. This sound “ring,” so arranged in Cologne, can be distributed on different levels in other concert halls, provided that the contiguity of the different groups is preserved. A light scenography will support the unfolding of the composition. When the audience enters the hall, the different groups will already be in place. Each group will be provided with a small video monitor, which from time to time will display a digit, signaling for the group to perform a short sequence as a subliminal anticipation of upcoming musical material. For instance, when the digit 1 is displayed, Group A will perform a given sequence; when 2 is displayed, so will the rear groups; when 3 is displayed, so will one of the side groups, etc. Meanwhile the central orchestra will take its place on stage and, during the tuning process (tuning keys will be supplied to every performer, because the oboe will not provide a sufficient reference for the entire tuning), a fairly legible sound texture will begin to emerge. The music has therefore already begun, and the lowering of the hall lighting will indicate the “true” beginning of the piece. There will therefore be no applause upon entrance of the performers. Thus will emancipated music evolve, and within this context the conductor (already sitting in the middle of the orchestra, to preclude any applause) will emerge to take the work, now rigorously and tightly structured, into his hands, and bring it to an end. Philippe Manoury

Read the entire programme note

Concert dates:

22, 23 & 24 May 2016 by the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln conducted by François-Xavier Roth at the Kölner Philharmonie in Cologne

Have a look at the score